Simple Math

Ya know, I am worried for our youth. With technology and concerns for being 'Politically Correct' I wonder if we are teaching children the basics of life.

Yesterday I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few items. It wasn't too crowded for a pre-holiday weekend. I kept my purchase to the items on my list... and I think that's a first... and I strolled up to the cash register.

The high-school age cashier rang up my groceries. "$67.37" she said with a smile. This stores uses a system where the register fills out the check for you. I asked her if she could make it for $30 over. She said "Yes" with a smile, took my blank check and turned to her register. She paused for a few seconds and then turned back to me, "How much would that be?" I smiled politely trying not to make her feel bad, "$97.37"

As I pushed my cart of groceries out to the van I thought to myself.... It's not like I asked her to make it some off the wall amount like $18.52. I asked for $30! That's '10' 3 times. 10, 20, 30. Even if she couldn't come up with the total right off the top of her head... because 6 plus 3 is 9... she could have quietly counted by 10s starting with 67, "77, 87, 97" $97.37.

Maybe it was a long day for her. Maybe her brain was fried for the moment, I know I've had that experience before. But we are talking about 2nd grade addition. Simple Math! I know computers do a lot for us these days, but a person still needs to know how add, subtract and process information. It's getting scary!